Labeling machine



Dec. 12, 1939. G. A. ROBINSON LABELING MACHINE Filed Oct. 28, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR m im. a W m a Dec. 12, 1939. G. A. ROBINSON LABELING MACHINE 28, 2 s t s t 2 J2 f M 7% V IV//////A 4g 54/ \I jg 54 INVENTOR a. FM,

ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 12, 1939 LABELING MACHINE George A. Robinson, Milton, Mm, casino: to Pneumatic Scale Corporation, Limited, Quincy,

Mam, a corporation of Munch usettc Application October as, 1931, Serial No. 111,520

6 Claims.

This invention relates to a labeling machine and more particularly to a machine'for applying a label to an irregular surface of an article and to the method of applying a label to such a surface.

One object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved apparatus for pressing a label against an irregular surface of an article in a novel, efllcient and practical manner whereby to enable the label to be more smoothly applied to the article with minimum liability of rupture or tearing of the label. Machines embodying the present invention find particular use in the application of a label of the character of the usual government revenue tax label to the irregular surface formed with the closure and the usual beads upon the neck of a bottle.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel and superior method of applying a label to an irregular surface of an article.

With these general objects in view and such others as may hereinafter appear, the invention consists in the label pressing apparatus, and in the various structures, arrangements and combinations of parts hereinafter described and particularly defined in the claims at the end of this specification.

Prior to the present invention the application of labels by machine to highly irregular surfaces has presented a difilcult problem. One instance comprisesthe application of the well-known revenue tax labels over the top of a bottle closure and down the opposite sides of the neck of the bottle. The irregular surface formed by the sides of the closure and the usual beads upon the neck of the bottle render it diflicult to smoothly apply the label without rupture and 'tearing of the label because of the tendency of the label to be stretched across the raised portions of the surface and thereafter torn upon further pressure or movement of the usual presser member, resulting in severance of the label at the depressed portions of the-beads or irregularities upon the neck of the bottle.

In accordance with the present invention the present labeling machine embodies a novel form of presser member which is actuated to press the label against the irregular surface by the application to the label of pressure in a manner such as to simulate the act of wiping the label against the surface in a direction toward the free endof the label. In one embodiment of the invention the label pressing means comprises a plurality of yieldable presser members mounted and arranged so as to engage a label in succession, one after the other, and in timed relation to one another, to permit portions of the label to be applied and pressed against the surface of the article, progressing toward the free end of the label. By the progressive application of-the label applying force in a direction toward the free end of the label, opportunity is afforded for one portion of the label to be pressed against one irregularity of the surface while permitting the remaining free end of the label to remain slack and adapt itself without tearing or rupture to other succeeding irregularities in the surface of the article, so that as each succeeding portion of the label is applied it is caused to smoothly conform to the surface.

In the drawings, in which the preferred embodiment of the invention is herein illustrated, Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partly in cross section, of a suflicient portion of a labeling machine to enable the present invention to be understood; Fig. 2 is an end view of one of the labeling heads partly in cross section, the section being taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1; Figs. 3, 4 and 5 are cross sectional details showing the presser pads in different positions of operation, and Fig. 6 is a sectional plan view of the presser pads shown in Fig. 3.

Referring now to the drawings, for purposes of illustration the present invention is shown as embodied in any usual or preferred labeling machine of the type in which the articles to be labeled are intermittently fed along a conveyor in a definite path into operative position with respect to a label applying mechanism and then to a label pressing mechanism, the label applying mechanism and label pressing mechanism being independent of each other and operating at different stations in the machine. Provision is usually made in these prior labeling machines for spreading a thin film of adhesive uniformly over the surface of each label prior to the application of the label to the bottle or article. For the purposes of the present invention it may be assumed that the label may be initially applied to the article either manually or mechanically, and inasmuch as the present invention is directed to the label pressing mechanism, further description of the aforesaid mechanisms is deemed unnecessary.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention. the label pressing mechanism includes two presser heads l0, arranged to be operated simultaneously, mounted one on each side of the-bottle to be labeled. Each presser head is mounted on a slide H adapted to be reciprocated in suitable guides l2 secured to the platen 8 of the machine frame. As herein shown, each presser head I0 is reciprocated through connections from a cam i4, secured to a cam shaft l5, mounted in the machine frame. The cam shaft l5 may be driven in any usual or preferred manner, not shown. The connections from the cam include a cooperating cam roll l8 carried on one arm l8 of a bell crank pivoted at 20. The second arm 22 is connected to a depending lug '23 on the underside to the opposite presser by similar links 32. The

presser mechanisms are positioned on the platen 8 in proper relation to the delivery mechanism 34 carrying the articles to be labeled 36 in spaced relation. In the operation of the labeling machine the articles to be labeled, having passed the label applying mechanism by which a label is delivered and attached to the article, are advanced to the presser or wiping station by a step by step motion. synchronously with this movement the presser mechanisms are reciprocated to and from the article to be labeled.

As herein illustrated, each pressing mechanism comprises a plurality of, and, as herein shown, three presser members or sections 40, 42, 44 slidably and yieldably mounted in the presser head lb. The members 40, 42, 44, preferably rectangular in cross section, are retained in the head ID by a cover 46 which is secured to the head by screws 48. Each presser section is normally urged outwardly from the head by a compression spring 50, one end of which is fitted into a bore in the presser section and the other bears against an inner face of the head l0. Each presser member is further provided with a slot 52 into which stop pins 54 extending from the cover 46 are slidably fitted. The pins 54 in cooperation with the slots 52 serve to retain the presser sections in their relative positions with respect to the bottle 36. As herein shown, each presser section is provided with a pad 4|, 43, 45, which is shaped to fit the contour of the bottle neck.

In the operation of the apparatus, a bottle 36, with a label 56 attached to the top and having its free ends 58, 60 loosely depending along the sides of the bottle neck, as shown in Fig. 1, is advanced into operative position with relation to the presser head l0. Thereafter, the presser heads are advanced toward the bottle and asillustrated in Fig. 3 the pads 4| are the first to engage the label on either side and press it against the upper portion of the bottle. The operation of the first set of presser pads 4| serves to draw up the free ends of the label so that the label can adapt itself to the contour of the beads or other irregularities on the neck of the bottle without liability of being ruptured or torn. Upon continued movement of the presser heads, see Fig. 5, the pads 43 engage the label and in a like manner take up on the free ends of the label and press the intermediate portions of the label into tightly fitting engagement with the bottle. Finally, the third and last pads 45 engage the remaining portions of the label and likewise serve to press them against the bottle, as shown in Fig. 5, whereupon the presser heads are retracted and a new bottle is advanced into operative position with relation to the presser heads.

From the above description of the apparatus and its operations, it will be seen that the present invention provides novel and improved means whereby a label may be smoothly and tightly pressed into contact with the irregularly shaped portions of a bottle, particularly those portions about the closure and neckof a bottle, with minimum liability of straining, rupturing or severing the label,

While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been herein illustrated and described, it will be understood that the invention may be embodied in other forms within the scope of the following claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. In a labeling machine, in combination, means for supporting an article of a character having irregularly shaped surfaces to be labeled and reciprocatory label pressing means for pressing successive portions of the label located progressively nearer the free end of the label against the article, said pressing means being capable of conforming to the shape of a portion of the irregular surface of the article to be labeled, whereby to cause each pressed portion to conform to the underlying surface of the article while permitting the unpressed portions to remain fre to move relative to the article.

2. In a labeling machine, in combination, means for supporting an article of a character having irregularly shaped surfaces to be labeled and a pair of opposed reciprocatory label pressing mechanisms, each comprising means for pressing successive portions of the label located progressively nearer the free end of the label against the article, said pressing means being capable of conforming to the shape of a portion of the irregular surface of the article to be labeled, whereby to cause each pressed portion to conform to the underlying surface of the article while permitting the unpressed portions to remain free to move relative to the article.

3. In a labeling machine, in combination, means for supporting the article to be labeled and label pressing means comprising a reciprocatory head, a plurality of independent presser members having pressing surfaces spaced to conform to the irregularities upon the article yieldingly mounted upon the head whereby upon reciprocation of the head successive presser members are caused to engage successive portions of a label.

4. In a labeling machine, in combination, means for supporting the article to be labeled and label pressing means comprising a reciprocatory head provided with label pressing means mounted upon the head in a manner such as to cause successive portions of the label to progress toward a free end thereof to be engaged by said pressing means upon continued movement of the head toward the article.

5. In a labeling machine, in combination, means for supporting the article to be labeled and label pressing means comprising a reciprocatory head provided with label pressing means yieldingly mounted upon the head in a manner such as to cause successive portions of the label to progress toward a free end thereof to be engaged by said pressing means upon continued movement of the head toward the article.

6. The method of applying a label to an irregular surface of an article comprising pressing successive portions of the label located progressively nearer a free end thereof against the article thereby to cause each pressed portion to form a portion of the surface underlying the same while permitting the unpressed portions to be free to move relative to the article.

GEORGE A. ROBINSON. 

